


See You In A Minute

by DreamerJW



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Can be read as a shippy fic, Fix-It, Gen, Post-Canon Fix-It, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-22 13:43:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22950436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamerJW/pseuds/DreamerJW
Summary: In which Steve goes to Vormir to return the soul stone and a "soul for a soul" still applies.
Relationships: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanoff
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	See You In A Minute

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic both ever and in this fandom. If you like it please let me know. Enjoy!

**Vormir-2014**

As Steve steps out of the ship onto the surface of Vormir, he feels uneasy. Whether it’s from knowing what was lost at this place, or from the aura it gives off, he cannot say, all he knows is this whole planet just feels off. The colourlessness reminds Steve of his time in the war, painful memories with it.

He fixes his attention to a mountain a short distance away, where a cloaked figure waits near the top.

_Natasha. No it can’t be. But she’s… But Clint said..._

His legs are moving before he can will them to. The mountain is closer, the figure—not Natasha, Steve notes, despite the hope bubbling in his chest—at the top is still and unmoving. The figure remains this way even after Steve has sprinted the entirety of the climb.

“Steven Grant Rogers, I never thought I’d see your insufferable face ever again, and yet, here we are.”

The voice belongs to the cloaked figure, _not Natasha_ , Steve notes sullenly. The voice, he recognizes it, he can’t quite place it, but there is something distinctly haunting and sinister that brings up memories from long ago.

When the hooded figure turns to face him, the reality hits hard. This is the man, no not a man, this is the monster who sent Steve seventy years into the future, away from his first and second love, to a world still at war. And now it’s the same man, _no, monster_ , Steve corrects, who has taken the life of another oh so dear to him.

“Red Skull”, he greets tersely, making evident his displeasure at meeting once again.

“I fear I cannot give you that which you must be seeking, the stone was taken mere minutes ago.” Red Skull paces, or he would be pacing if he had legs.

“I’m here to return the stone.”

Surprise travels across Red Skulls features, quickly replaced with a thoughtful look. “Well then perhaps there is something else you desire, it is a soul for a soul after all.”

“Natasha.” The words are out of Steve’s mouth and the soul stone in his hand before he could think about what he was doing.

Satisfaction creeps into Red Skulls features. Considering he has no face, emotions are shown far too easily.

Despite being someone responsible for a large portion of Steve’s pain, Red Skull may just bring back a piece of his happiness and heart, after all Natasha was his family.

 _Natasha_ is _my family_. He corrects, allowing himself to feel hope, the sliver widening until all he feels certainty. _She’s going to come back home._

All Red Skull has to do is at the cliff twenty feet or so into the distance, and Steve is sure as ever of what must be done. His body moves of its own accord. Feet carrying him to the cliffs edge. Hand outstretched. The soul stone, something so small, yet so easily able to cause pain, hurt, and agony in the lives of many, drops from his palm. Time seems to stand still as it makes its descent, and Steve wonders if he imagines the ‘clink’ the stone must make on the floor. With his breath held Steve looks around him, praying he never has to come to this god forsaken planet again. He watches the horizon with a held breath and.

And nothing.

There is no Natasha laughing at his tendencies to be old fashioned. No Natasha helping him train a new batch of Natasha. There’s no Natasha to rely on for years under the radar and off the grid.

There is no Natasha.

There is no Natasha and that almost hurts more than when Clint came back alone.

After the nothing, there is light. Brighter than the sun and brighter than any stun grenade he’s ever been the victim of. The light is harsh and cold and blinding. _Is this how she died?_

After what feels like years of this painful light, it finally fades, gradually becoming softer and warmer, welcoming even. When the light dims completely, and his eyes have adjusted, Steve finds himself sitting in a pool.

The water is neither hot nor cold. Neither warm nor cool. Yet it’s not lukewarm either. Trying to place it makes it all the more confusing. The water is simultaneously too warm for comfort and too cool for comfort, trying to figure it out only fills his senses with static, his nerves completely lost.

“Holy shit.”

Though the sentiment belonged to Steve, the voice did not. But that voice. Oh how he missed that voice. He’d spent countless hours trading stories and secrets and jokes with that voice. God how he missed that voice. Even those profane words sound angelic coming from that voice. Coming from her.

Steve breathes her name, barely audible, as he turns to face her.

It's Natasha. Many emotions flash across her face, the most notable being confusion, disbelief, and finally contentment.

This is the Natasha Steve remembers, not spy Natasha, not human weapon Natasha. No, this is Natasha Romanoff, with her guard down in front of her family.

It feels like years they stand there, in a happy, disbelieving daze, soaking each other in, hardly able to accept it as it is, and not as a cruel joke from an even crueler universe.

Steve is the first one to break the stillness, with a few slow steps towards her, hands reaching out to touch her.

And oh she's real. She's real, she's real, she's real. This mantra playing in his head is accompanied by joyful tears streaming down his face.

Her shoulders have been under his hands for hardly a second before the light comes again. Harsh and blinding in the same way as before.

When the light recedes yet again, he's standing at the base of the mountain on Vormir, only this time he's not alone.

Tears still fall slowly down the faces of both Steve and Natasha. Though a new calm falls over them both as they embrace, relishing in the presence of each other.

"Let's get back home." Natasha says as she adjusts her time suit, and Steve knows she doesn't just mean to Earth in 2023. She means to their family, to Tony and Bruce and Rhodey, to Bucky and Sam and Clint, to everyone who has been fighting for a better world.

As Steve sets his suit in sync with hers, a smile crosses his face, "See you in a minute." And this time they both know it to be true.


End file.
